undefined hey people, i was wondering if anyone could tell me everything they know about doing guitar swings. i want to know obviously how to do them but also what do you prefer for security: straplocks or the straps that clip and tighten to your guitar. i want to learn them forwards and backwards. anyother cool things the bring stage pressence are also welcome in this thread. thanks!

LOL. thats awesome

i would get straplocks, as far as learning them backwards and fowards...well you grab the guitar and give it a toss over your shoulder not much to it really

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I seen someone rip the strap lock out of their guitar once doing a guitar swing while actually on stage. It was some shit local band that was doing the preopening for the preopening band of the opening band of Slayer. Very unmetal once the guitar went flying and hit the floor

The 80's are over. Guitar swings are bad. I would rather swallow my guitar pick them swing one of my guitars.

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Tell that to Yngwie, Alexi...and buncha other flashy guitarists . It'd suck if you tossed it over and the headstock just plunged into ur back.......or someplace lower . I have a funny video of Alexi Laiho at a live show tryin to be kewl and flipping it over, but he fucks up and it just hits him on the back, how embarrassing

Guitar swings are gr1m.

So is swallowng your guitar.

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Ken Susi (Unearth) uses those Dimarzio Cliplock straps.. but uses a longer and thicker screw to screw the strap into the guitar.

Dimarzio says they an hold up to 100lbs.

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dunlop said 600 lbs or something.

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i watched that G3 live in denver. and i wanna see malmsteen get smacked in the nuts now.sorta like this

Strap locks are only as strong as the wood they are put into people. That dude I was telling you about split the horn of his guitar when the strap lock riped out. Sure the strap, the lock, and the screw were still in one piece but the wood failed. The horn of your guitar will NOT support 100 pounds, not to mention 600.

Guitar swings are bad!

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The dues from Unearth do it every night with no problems..

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I'm sure they are very good at it by now too but I wonder if they ever lost a guitar in flight before they learned how to do it well

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but no one really explained how to do it and tips and what to look out for, stuff like that. thanks

They have an odd technique of doing it, watch a live performance of them and I'm sure you can pick it up.

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No thanks. I just can't handle the thought of my precious guitars flying through the air.

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yeah, thats what i always tell people "the wood is gonna break or the strap itself will tear before it comes undead due to weight"

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I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you don't care much about the guitar.
I was at a local show and some gay ass band called "Airman Basic" opened and the lead singer/guitarist had a new gibson les paul custom... http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dba...s/51/517110.jpg
anyway, he tried to be a cool guy and throw it over his shoulder during a pause in their song and SNAP , the strap ripped and there went his les paul head first into the floor. It broke the head stock off. He was so sad , it was too funny.

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The guys from Bleeding Through and most other hardcore bands do it.

My recommendation is getting a cheap guitar and learning to do it. Try adding weights to better replicate the weight of a better guitar, and get the Dimarzio. You cannot trust the screws in any of them 100% though.

edit:

and yeah, I'm gonna have to go along with the crowd and say that you are a dumbass for assuming you can do it. I wouldn't recommend anyone, no matter what your skill level or anything. Its not worth the thought of losing your guitar.

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i would recomend an Lp JR. they weight the same as a normal Lp and cost only about $60-80

Guitar swings in cases are just emo bands who are insecure because they can't play their instrument. They do them to cover up their shittiness and try to appeal to the mtv dependent preteens who think that they're punk because they cock a trucker cap to the side and wear eye make up and a spikey belt.

Yeh, because Yngwie and Unearth.. they have no Idea how to play.

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There are a few exceptions (thats why i said most) but for the most part it is a rather emo tactic.

What is it exactly?
Yes, I know, stupid question....

http://stupidvideos.com/Default.asp
Go to search and search Guitar and a few examples will come up of when it goes terribly, terribly wrong.

+1, I went and seen a "battle of the bands" thing at a local club. The music all sucked ass, but they would do those swings like their the baddest motherfucker. I mean, who in the fuck would care if someone can swing a guitar, that's as impressive as someone splitting wood over a block. Get a clue, learn to play. I can see maybe a lil swingage when you rip off a badass riff, or thrashin up a major solo, but there's a time and place for everything.

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Yea theres a big difference between someone who can seriously play and can swing a guitar just as icing on the cake but its a completely different story when all they can play are powerchords with some whiny vocals about how the lead singer's girlfriend dumped him because he cried infront of her parents.

Yngwie yes, Unearth, no no.

Oh, and you guys watch this, this is what happens when you try to be cool and do too much

http://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=...2Y3JU7N39NVAVXR

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Haha I could watch that fuckin' video for weeks and then once it got old I'd wait a month and it'd be brand fuckin' new again. haha

Well ok maybe not but it was still funny the first few times. Thanks for sharing it with us. It would've been funnier if it landed on his beloved distortion that he shrouds his voice in so we could see just how dependant on that he really is. haha

Yeah... Learn how to play, then you'll need no gimmicks (other than maybe a few tattoos, piercings and a shit haircut)

To be honest, I wouldn't disrespect my axe enoguh to hurl it around. It's a guitar that I love as well as the fact I don't want to shell out for another guitar, especially if it's due my current breaking as a result of stupidity etc...

'Helpmehelpyou' speaks the wisest of wise words there.

About three years ago someone tried it at one of our house parties with an old bass my brother had, he was a tall guy and didn't look around, resulting ina slight dent to the head, and a crippled set of room lights. Good job we were drunk otherwise it would have been a mjor problem:/

Haha! That video... Top Tip: Don't try guitar swings with guitars that are almost as big as you and prong out in several directions... If only the axe's momentum was enough to pull him over, that'd be golden.

Imagine fucking up a swing with a pointy-ass Ironbird or something...

Same here with everybody else. I don't have the money to spare to buy a new guitar, so I'm not going to fuck around and risk breaking my current. Even if I had several guitars I wouldn't dream of doing that to any of them..

i can play well but im just looking for stage presence and swings are what i want to learn. so far ive gotten: 1. get a crapy guitar(got one), 2. use dimarzio locking strap. NO ONE SAID HOW TO DO IT YET THOUGH! how hard do i do it? should i move my head ect... thanks

There are two options:

1. Learn to headbang while playing

or

2. Kill yourself.

If I were you, i'd take whats behind door number two!

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um no

Did you see the videos that were posted of the guitar swings going wrong? The guitar swings looked cheap anyway and the guitars were broke. If you want stage presence and want to brake a guitar then just set the thing on fire and throw it into the drums.

No one will be listening to you play at that point and you will be a local guitar God.

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I sure as fuck know I'd never want to risk the chance of fucking my guitars up by swinging them. I'd rather like to learn how to play above or behind my head or something crazy ass like that.

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+1 Playing behind your head isn't that hard, it just requires a good position and lots of concentration, but it sure beats the hell out of swinging your instrument around.

+1. Nothing says someones badass more than playing 1000 notes a minute behind their head. Anyone can swing a guitar but it takes true skill to shred behind your head.

someone quit that faggot-ass +1 shit, jezus fucking christ!!



on another note, guitar swings aren't difficult, just give the body a firm push near the jack input (like, on the lower side, on the edge of the body eh..)

be sure to either tape up your straps or use straplocks, they really work wonders. I've seen guys swing 5 string basses....

playing 12304218354012830 notes behind your head doesn't define skill, I'de much rather heard a good solo with actual melody. playing behind you head isn't difficult either but you hardly see people play anything interesting whilst playing behind their head (IMO Unearth only does the lame riff from the strings of conscience) they do have an amazing stage presence though.

I guess that really its all about personal opinion. Personally I assosiate guitar swings and stuff like that with emo bands that make better circus performers than guitarists. Personally I think that your playing should say everything and you shouldn't be relying on hopping around like someones chasing you with a celine dion cd to get someone to enjoy your live show. But thats just me. I would never disrespect my guitars enough to try that (plus i can't afford another haha).

thanks to the ONE PERSON who actually gave me some instruction. this thread isnt about how gay ill look doing the swing its about how to do it. please dont post anything unless it will teach me something. i really dont want your opinion on if the guitar swings are cool. i like them. thanks

so you're basically a narrowminded bum?



I haven't seen an emo band do a guitar swing, ever. guess because they usually play acoustics, haha.

and ofcourse skill is more important then image, you never ever heard me say otherwise.

your welcome, be sure to practise before trying it the first time, you don't want the guitar to hit you in the back or something... it only works if you push it round really hard, else it'll just look gay, or it'll even slip of your shoulder.

touche.

thanks. anything else anyone?

If you're doing a reverse swing (with the body going first, rather than the neck), try and grab the neck on the swing back as the guitar falls into its natural position, so you can slide down the neck and carry on playing.

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I was wondering, how do you do it with the guitar plugged in, wouldn't the cable tangle around your neck and..?

If you're swinging it over your left shoulder, you want the cable to already be behind you, and then infront of your feet, but coming from the left, so you don't get tangled

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thanks guys, you're actually teaching me something. thanks.

If you are going to swing your guitar even after all the warnings then why not try something really different. Something that I have never seen anyone else ever even try... If you think your poor guitar can take the stress then...

Hoola-Hoop the damn thing! I would pay to see it done

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Actually Ken also sweeps behind his head, which is pretty impressive IMO.

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Put pillows and shit on the ground when you practice. get some momentum before flinging it. for backwards i would say hold onto the neck

Just Hoola-hoop the thing 3-4 times and you will be a guitar swinging God!

Then threads will be start about how to hoola-hoop guitars.

Hoola-Hoop! God Dammit!

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Hoola hoops are for pussies!

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not if it's the same sweep over and over again, I've seen them live 3 times now, allways the same song etc. sure it's not easy but if you've been doing that for 2 years... it gets kinda lame, it's awesome to see at first but it kinda loses it's shine.

oh, about the cable, lock it behind the strap!!! you don't want your cable to fly out. same goes for the other side of the cable, wrap it around your cabinet's handle once, it'll hold it right there.

lol

just think if somone did that with a jackson headstock

Yeh, its always the sweep in "One Step Away" I've only seen him do it once and I've seen them twice.. I guess they got tired of playing One Step Away..

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I've actually done some thinking on this topic. I've come up with nothing. hahaha
I always thought that it'd be cool to do a swing in the middle of a song and just keep on playing. I was always worried about the cable, though, and about the guitar hitting something or sone one.
maybe you can just hang it around your neck and just swing it like that. If you choose to do this, though, you'll wanna make sure that you have a particularly soft, padded strap with no sharp edges, so it doesn't slit your throat. Or, you can just be tr00ly metal and wear a suit of armor.
Which reminds me, I don't know how many of you ever saw the show Battle for Ozzfest, but on the first episode, when they were interviewing and choosing the bands, they showed all these bands who were waiting in line to sign up for the show, there must've been a hundred bands at least, or even more. Anyway, there was this one band, they all wore shiny suits of armor, and they were talking about how they are tr00ly metal and live the metla lifestyle and shit. Needless to say, they didn't get picked, they were too fucking lame, even for MTV.
Sorry to go off topic there, but I just remembered that, and I thought it was kinda funny.

or ESP, Jackson always gets the pointy headstock credit, but ESP has been around longer. I'm not putting down jackson though as i believe ESP and Jackson kick equal amounts of ass.

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"Show is over folks. Sorry, but our guitar player is on the way to the hospital for being cool and cutting his head nearly off"

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hahah. i think yngwie did the suit of armor once.

where are you getting your LP JR?? last time i checked an LP JR was around $700??? i think thats right...

he meant epiphone dude haha, its all good

u know what i mean u smart ass. the one thats like $80 and has only one HB

yeah and what kind of dumb ass would buy a jr for 700 bucks!!

i guess if your going for the whole "im a retard because i got ripped off" thing then go ahead other wise stick to standerds